Fulham and West Ham United played out an entertaining pre-season friendly in Graz on Thursday evening, with the Irons finishing up narrow 2-1 victors.

Argentina international Manuel Lanzini struck first blood with an emphatic finish, a lead which striker Ashley Fletcher doubled before half-time.

The Whites had all the chances after the restart and duly won the second half when Cauley Woodrow netted from close range following good work by Sone Aluko and Ryan Sessegnon.

But with just eight minutes left thereafter, what would have been a deserved equaliser proved to be out of reach.

Inside five minutes Jerome Opoku embarked on a driving 50 yard run from full-back, but he was crowded out on the edge of the box just as he was about to pull the trigger.

Possession was evenly matched but it was Fulham who drew the first save of the game when Darren Randolph got down low to keep out Woodrow’s low strike.

Unfortunately the Hammers then went straight up the other end and opened the scoring through Lanzini’s powerful effort into the corner that left David Button with no chance.

It should have been 1-1 four minutes later but for a save that was nothing short of world class. A fine Tayo Edun ball picked out Floyd Ayité who beat his man and cut back to Aluko. The skipper sent a first time rocket towards the far post, but somehow Randolph got across to deny him.

Midway through the half, Ragnar Sigurdsson was withdrawn after picking up a knock, hopefully as a precaution, with Tim Ream replacing him.

Lanzini then went within a couple of inches of doubling his tally when he turned smartly in the box and fired just wide.

Ryan Fredericks got a chance to open his legs up in the 34th minute, dropping the shoulder several times to beat a man in claret and blue, before drilling in a low effort that deflected a hard wide.

Marcelo Djalo then headed down and into the ground from the subsequent corner, which was comfortably smothered by Randolph.

Five minutes before the break Fletcher doubled the advantage as he was able to nick the ball off Button and roll it into an empty net. There were question marks as to whether the Whites stopper was fouled, though.

At the break Fulham brought on Sessegnon, Matt O’Riley and Kevin McDonald for Opoku, Aluko and Ibrahima Cisse.

West Ham made 10 changes, with one of those drawing a smart save from Button with a powerful shot straight down the throat by club captain Mark Noble.

We had to wait until the 65th minute for the next chance, as Ayité powered in a bouncing effort after cutting inside, but it dropped shy of the near post.

Three minutes later a fine slide rule pass from O’Riley sent Ayité into space. His square pass found Woodrow, but he smashed his effort too close to Adrian who saved at the second attempt.

With quarter of an hour remaining, Aluko, Cisse and Opoku re-entered the fray, replacing Piazon, Ayité and Fredericks.

O’Riley and Cisse then took it in turns to try their luck, with the former blasting over from distance, and the latter placing a half volley wide of the post.

The Whites brought themselves right back into it with eight minutes to go as Aluko’s jinking run culminated in a slipped pass to Sessegnon, who finished coolly from a tight angle, but further assessment showed it was turned in by Woodrow.

With the match reaching its conclusion, the energetic Edun made way for Piazon who came back on, but there was no way back for the Whites who could take plenty of positives from the run-out.